Implementing the work-life balance directive in times of COVID-19 : new prospects for post-pandemic workplaces in the European Union?

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected workers’, especially women’s, ability to combine their paid work and care obligations in an unprecedented way. However, it has also raised the political relevance of the work-life balance issue. The moment is timely as the Work-life Balance Directive adopted by the European Union (EU) in 2019 comes to its implementation deadline in August 2022. The combination of these two events can lay the ground for new ways of configuring the workplace and new rights to working parents which might enhance work-life balance for workers in the EU.